I have the rugged mount for my montana that I use on GS and RZR, and I also have a Ram cradle that I was going to use on a bean bag in the car. So I plug in a power cord
(cig lighter) and come to find out the montana will not turn on while plugged in.

So is it just my (non Garmin) power cord thats the problem or is there a cord that enables you to plug in and use the GPS.

The start up is a little odd in that the Montana goes through the startup process when plugged in but ends with a screen that shows the battery charging. You have to press the power button to get the Montana to actually go into Navigate mode.

The start up is a little odd in that the Montana goes through the startup process when plugged in but ends with a screen that shows the battery charging. You have to press the power button to get the Montana to actually go into Navigate mode.

-Shov

It probably works but it's a poor substitute for the surface connections of the Garmin Automotive or Rugged mount. Anytime you use mini USB to power a gps on a bike, could be the last time that socket works. MiniUSB sucks, big time, for anything but connecting to a computer.

And I think buying the RAM cradle for a Montana is a complete waste of time and money.

__________________Want to know more about the Garmin Montana? See the Wisdom and FAQ Thread.Want to know more about the Garmin VIRB? See here.
"The motorcycle, being poorly designed for both flight and marine operation, sustained significant external and internal damage," police noted.

And I think buying the RAM cradle for a Montana is a complete waste of time and money.

I wasted my money on a RAM cradle for the Montana. The roller on top came off the first time I used it. I have been using the hard wired cradle for many miles since and it is the BOMB! Get one. I chopped off the wires and added a cool connector on the end to hook up to the wiring harness I made on my bike. I have wrecked my bike many many many times and the Montana has never come out. (I do keep it tethered to the handlebars so I won't loose it if it does pop loose. ) I have never used the locking screw.

Not the best picture but here it is:

I have the car version too with the cig lighter adapter and speaker built in too. It is nice in the car.

I have no idea why anyone would want to power one with a USB cable either. The mounting system of the Montana is one of its best features!

I have no idea why anyone would want to power one with a USB cable either. The mounting system of the Montana is one of its best features!

Exactly.

The new Oregon 6XX series looked really interesting until I saw it only had MiniUSB for external power, so I immediately lost interest in it.

__________________Want to know more about the Garmin Montana? See the Wisdom and FAQ Thread.Want to know more about the Garmin VIRB? See here.
"The motorcycle, being poorly designed for both flight and marine operation, sustained significant external and internal damage," police noted.

I admit that powering the Montana with the USB port is a bad idea on a bike but it works OK in a car.

Don't write off the USB Type B mini for any application just because it doesn't work well for some applications. It has its place when used correctly.

This summer we rode to the Arctic Circle with a couple of Aussies and Kiwis. I loaned our Oregon to one of the Kiwis who used it for the full ride: OKC to the West Coast, up to Inuvik, back down the coast, across the US to Virginia Beach and then back to OKC, much of it on TAT. You can see the Oregon sitting up next to the mirror.

Through days and days of crappy weather and roads like the Dempster Highway in the rain. It ran fine all the way powered by the USB power port and one of our cables.

Last week we spent eight days riding to Eastern TN and back to OKC including the Tail of the Dragon and Blue Ridge Parkway among other good TN twisties.

I ran a GoPro set up with a weatherproof USB mini connection so I was able to shoot video full time, 8 to 10 hours per day. 218Gb of mostly boring video. On the way out it poured rain in Little Rock. Absolutely no problem with the USB mini connection, rain and all.

I admit that powering the Montana with the USB port is a bad idea on a bike but it works OK in a car.

I've had at least 5 mini USB connectors fail for a number of reasons. Some wore out from repeated connection/disconnection many times a day as we used our Oregon 550s to take pictures with. Cameras are meant to be used, right?

Another Oregon and Nuvi 780 failed From moisture getting into a Garmin power cable.

There's no doubt that you make a good cable. We have one we used to use on a F650GS. We stopped using it after a while only because the power coming out of it is low and it takes forever to charge an iPhone through it.

But the annoyance of having to plug a usb cable into the gps in a car isn't necessary at all. Garmin's powered mount with integrated speaker is the best choice.

__________________Want to know more about the Garmin Montana? See the Wisdom and FAQ Thread.Want to know more about the Garmin VIRB? See here.
"The motorcycle, being poorly designed for both flight and marine operation, sustained significant external and internal damage," police noted.

However floptana does turn off the magnetic compass.....but the magnetic compass doesn't seem to work very well anyway, at least compared to other devices with magnetic compasses....Of course when stationary without the magnetic compass floptana heading usually goes wacky. Especially compared to other GPS's when stationary.... Oh well....

It works the same as most users report. Not very well in a car. It works well for me when using handheld, just not vertically mounted in the car. There's nothing any different with my floptana hardware. I'm pretty sure the condition of my floptana hardware has been covered before. It behaves the same as pretty much everyone else.

The only exception I've come across where other peoples behave differently than mine in similar environments is with people that have hardware problems with theirs. Seems from posts touch sensors are at the top of that list, with displays and battery contacts (granted user abuse here) following. Maybe you sense a different pareto distribution of hardware malfunctions but it's not really relevant to the heading discussion anyway.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DRTBYK

eCompass inside of a car? Now there's a good way to end up somewhere you didn't plan to be.

I'm only looking for it to keep pointing in the general direction the vehicle is pointed. Like other GPS's I have and have had, including other garmins. It's sort of confusing when you come to a stop and its pointing some random direction. There's a "good way to end up somewhere you didn't plan to be". Similar to what other floptana users report, it's pretty much the worst GPS I've seen in this regard. With the compass disabled it at least as often as not points some random direction when we come to a stop.

However floptana does turn off the magnetic compass.....but the magnetic compass doesn't seem to work very well anyway, at least compared to other devices with magnetic compasses....Of course when stationary without the magnetic compass floptana heading usually goes wacky. Especially compared to other GPS's when stationary.... Oh well....

What?? Montana disables the the compass when plugged into Rugged Mt.? That sucks. I often use/rely on the compass when stopped and figuring which trail to take.

Crap... I'm at the chalet and I'll return home at the end of this long weekend (It's thanksgiving in Cannuckistan) to a dead VFR: I left in a hurry in my Jeep Friday afternoon -- couldn't take the bike because my steering head bearings are shot -- and I left the Montana plugged in, connected straight to the battery...

Unfortunately, this won't answer the question "How long does it take for the Montana to drain a battery?"...

Returned at 7 p.m., so about 3 days later or 72 hours. Montana was still on. The VFR battery, however, did not fare so well: it was down to 8.4 volts, enough for dim headlights and definitively not enough to crank the starter...

Obviously, the Montana is off its cradle, a 1A trickle charger is hooked to the battery and it should be fine by the morning...

What?? Montana disables the the compass when plugged into Rugged Mt.? That sucks. I often use/rely on the compass when stopped and figuring which trail to take.

I don't think it turns it off in the rugged mount. It does in the auto mount with the speaker though. Someone hypothesized it was due to the magnet in the speaker making it useless. Seems a rational point...